BIGGA AND BETTER

UB40

BIGGA AND BETTER

UB40 casts its musical net wider for their latest album - By Steve Bell

Way back in 1985 UK reggae collective UB40 released an album called Baggariddim, which took tracks from their previous two albums - UK chart-topper Labour Of Love (1983) and Geffery Morgan (1984) - and completely reimagined them using predominantly local guest singers and toasters on vocals (as well as throwing in a duet cover of Sonny & Cher’s ‘I Got You Babe’ alongside The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde which went to #1 in both the UK and Australia).

Decades later in 2020 when the advent of COVID curtailed touring for their 2019 album For The Many - the pandemic not caring whatsoever if you’ve sold in excess of 100 million albums - UB40 returned to the concept, this time casting their net far wider and using digital technology to their advantage as they pulled together their brand new collection, Bigga Baggariddim. “It was really simple to do,” smiles founding guitarist Robin Campbell. “Obviously all of the rhythm tracks already existed because they’re off the last album For The Many and we just literally emailed all of the people we’ve worked with over the last few years and said, “Would you fancy doing something?’ “We’d discussed it with some of them already, like when we were down there last time House Of Shem supported us in New Zealand and Inner Circle supported us in Australia, so both of them we asked them at the time if they’d be interested in collaborating and they both said, ‘Yeah, send us something’. That was what happened. “We did the original Baggariddim in the ‘80s and that was like a showcase for Birmingham

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artists - rappers and DJs kind of stuff, as well as getting Chrissie Hynde in obviously - whereas this time around we’ve been on the road for 40 years so we figured it should be a bit more international, you know? “It was just great to hear all of the different styles and different ideas that people came up with for the same backing track, because we sent the same backing tracks to different people - we sent everyone two or three tracks and asked them to pick one and put a song on it, and a lot of people picked the same tracks so you’ve got two or three backing tracks on the album which are the same but have different songs on top, which is fascinating to me. “We didn’t place any restrictions on them or anything - we just said, ‘Send us something back’ - and we sent everyone the various tracks and asked them to pick one and send us something back, but then other people like House Of Shem we send them three tracks and they sent us three songs! We used all three of them because we couldn’t pick one!” It’s not all old pros and touring mates though, with Bigga Baggariddim also showcasing some younger up-and-coming stars like BLVK H3RO and Leno Banton (son of revered dancehall artist Burro Banton). “We hadn’t worked with those guys and we didn’t know them, we’d just heard of them though the grapevine kind of thing and knew that they were hot and happening, so we asked them to be involved and they both jumped at the chance,” Campbell explains. “BLVK H3RO was another one of the guys who sent us three tracks, so he’s got three tracks on the album as well because we just loved all three and didn’t want to pick one. “But it’s great to work with young artists because they might have an audience that’s not listening to us old-timers, and hopefully we’re getting them a new audience because people who are listening to us - our fans - mightn’t have heard of them either, so it’s an exchange of cultures and approaches and it’s great. “I mean Inner Circle are older than us even - they’ve been going 50 years them guys, the “bad boys of reggae” - and then there’s Winston Francis as well who’s been making records since the ‘60s, it’s great to have those old guys but it’s great to have the young kids too. It just shows that reggae’s still really healthy - the guys who’ve been around a long time are still making great music, but there’s new kids on the block coming up, all melding into one vibrant sense of community. “Reggae doesn’t always get the recognition or exposure that it deserves, being a global style of music which has influenced every form of dance music in the last 40 years, and - considering how popular it is - reggae gets very little airplay on the radio, so any exposure that you can give to young artists is going to be appreciated by them, because all they’re trying to do is get their stuff out there and get heard, same as we were back in the day.” Shortly after the album release singer Duncan Campbell announced his retirement from UB40 in order to focus on his recovery from the seizure he suffered at his home last month. UB40 have announced fellow Birmingham reggae band KIOKO’s Matt Doyle as their new lead singer.